The money is being spent. When it isn't, it's because there isn't really a plan to determine the required level of investment.
When we look at where the money is going, we see that it's clearly tied to some extent to capacity. Indeed, that's one of our recommendations. What concerns me is that the department and CMHC only partially agree with our recommendation.
In my opinion, the government should determine which communities have the greatest needs, the ones where the conditions are the worst, and ensure that they get a fair share of the available funding. At present, funding is going to communities putting their hands up and those that have the capacity to respond to requests.
It's a labour-intensive process for small communities. For them, it's not a matter of making a decision, but rather of recognizing their needs, which vary from one community to the next. In some cases, there's no one in charge of housing. Communities need support to determine their needs and submit a funding application. Other communities don't need that kind of support. I'd like the answer to be based on the unique needs of each community.
That said, the programs are extremely complex. For example, CMHC has 13 housing-related funding programs. Each community has to first determine which programs they qualify for and then submit an application for each program. There should be an easier, less labour-intensive way for communities to access funding.